


The Way You Look

by Thegracefulnerd



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Just two soft teens in love, taken from a prompt I found a thousand years ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 00:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13822665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thegracefulnerd/pseuds/Thegracefulnerd
Summary: "Someday... when I'm awfully low,and the world is cold,I will feel a glow, just thinking of you,and the way you look tonight..."





	The Way You Look

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a hundred years, based off a post I saw about imagining your OTP dancing to "the way you look tonight," but I just now got the story to where I wanted it.  
> Feedback is appreciated.  
> Thank you!

_“Come on Nancy, this isn’t you…” Barb whispered._

_Nancy cried out in the darkness around her, “I know, I know Barb I’m sorry, I’m here! I’m here!” Nancy was screaming, frantically trying to find Barb in the haze around her. She couldn’t find her; she was only met with the bone chilling cold of the upside down. The air was still, too still for a normal environment. The air around her was freezing, yet her breath never appeared in a cloud in front of her. Nancy tried to shake off the feeling that the dimension gave her and continued on her search for Barb._

_“Barb!” Nancy yelled. There was no response, not even so much as an echo. “Barb!” She screamed again._

_Nothing._

Nancy jerked awake, her chest heaving with the effort to breath. Jonathan was still sleeping peacefully beside her. She was thankful that she hadn’t disturbed him, she knew he had an exam tomorrow in one of his classes, he needed the sleep. Nancy turned on her side to look at her alarm clock.  
3:05 a.m.

Nancy sighed and slowly climbed out of their shared bed, and carefully walked into their kitchen. She and Jonathan had been living together for a little over a year now. They had both decided on attending NYU after high school, and instead of living on campus, they’d both gone in on a relatively priced apartment in the not-as-bad-as-it-could-be side of town. It had been great, Nancy had been thriving in her courses, she was studying animal biology and chemistry, and Jonathan had loved the arts program NYU offered.

Their apartment was a small one bedroom, one bath, with a small kitchenette and a moderate living area. Most nights they were on the couch watching TV, eating the cheapest thing they could find at the convenience store a few blocks away from their apartment, or they were out with the few friends they had made since they’d made the move to New York.  
Nancy didn’t really miss Hawkins. Sure she missed her mom and Mike and Holly, but she didn’t really miss the feeling of being stuck there. Before they had moved, Nancy had started to feel like the borders of Hawkins were closing in around her, and she was going to be stuck there for the rest of her life. There were too many things trapping her there, the memory of Barb, what had happened with Eleven and Will… Steve even.

Sometimes Nancy thought about Steve. She worried about him staying in Hawkins, but she also thought that it was best for him. He really did like it there, and now he had five little “shit-heads” to look after, even though they weren’t so little anymore. She knew that she had broken Steve’s heart by choosing to be with Jonathan, and she hated herself for it. But she also hated the idea of staying with him when she didn’t truly love him. It was a disservice to herself and Steve. Nancy tried to shake all the memories of Hawkins out of her head and started to make some tea. Jonathan had encouraged her to start drinking it after her anxiety had started skyrocketing again.

She placed a pot of water on the crappy stove and waited on it to simmer. She’d grabbed her I heart NY mug on accident and almost laughed when she realized she’d grabbed it. Mike and Eleven had bought it for her after she and Jonathan had announced that they were moving to New York.  
Textbooks, papers, highlighters and stray energy bar wrappers littered their poor excuse for a kitchen table. Notes were stuck to the fridge with little notes they’d left each other.

_We need more milk XO_

_Can you PLEASE stop eating all my yogurt? -Nancy_

_Why are the eggos always gone, we left Eleven in Hawkins. -J_

_I love you!!! -J_

_I heart you more -Nancy_

Nancy grinned at the silly memos she and Jonathan had left each other. Somehow, every time the past plagued her Jonathan managed to comfort her, and vice versa. It brought back that speech that Murray had given them all those years ago.

_And the real shit, shared trauma._

No matter how badly Nancy had wanted to deny what he’d told them, she knew that he hadn’t been wrong. Jonathan was a part of Nancy’s life now, just as he was a part of hers. And neither of them were going anywhere anytime soon. She grabbed a pen and one of the Post-it notes and scribbled a new memo down.  


_We need more tea XOXOX_

She placed it on the fridge door and went back to her tea. The water was slowly starting to simmer, the steam rising and warming Nancy’s frigid hands. The heating in their apartment was far from perfect, which led to a lot of blankets and cold nights spent in each other’s arms. She smiled thinking about it and poured the water into her mug. She hummed while she steeped her tea, wondering if she would be able to get back to sleep. She usually couldn’t after a nightmare, but maybe this once she’d be able to.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Jonathan’s sleep filled voiced asked suddenly.

Nancy startled, sloshing her hot tea on her hand and out on the counter. She hissed through her teeth and sat the mug down.

"Oh shit, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” Jonathan exclaimed softly.  


Nancy chuckled, “You hardly scare me. I just didn’t think you’d wake up.”  


“I always wake up when you leave.” He told her.  


She smiled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to. I know you’ve got that test tomorrow.”  


Jonathan shrugged, “It’s not so much a test as it is a visual presentation of my work that receives a grade.”  


“So a test.”  


Jonathan grinned, “Sure.”  


Nancy wiped the tea off of the counter and ran her hand under the cold water of the faucet. Jonathan walked over to stand beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist. Nancy rested her head on his shoulder and kept her hand under the cool water.  


"I’m sorry I made you burn yourself.”  


Nancy shook her head, “It wasn’t your fault, I’m just a little jumpy.”  


“Bad dream?” Jonathan asked.  


Nancy nodded. Jonathan didn’t press for anymore answers, but she told him anyway. “It was Barb again.”  


He nodded and tightened his hold on her waist. “Do you think it’s okay now?” she asked, holding up her hand where he could see. She finally got a decent look at him and smiled at his awful bed head and sleepy expression.  


“I think you’re fine.” He said after examining her hand. She nodded and turned off the faucet then grabbed her tea and turned to Jonathan. She rested her head on his chest and awkwardly took a sip of her tea. “Please don’t spill that on me.” Jonathan said dryly.  


Nancy smirked, “Don’t worry, I’ll fix you up.”  


He laughed and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Sure you will.”  


She smiled and started to sway with him, moving slowly so her tea wouldn’t spill. Suddenly, Jonathan stopped and withdrew his arms from Nancy. She wanted to protest at the sudden lack of warmth but Jonathan was smiling. “I have an idea, hold on.”  


Nancy looked at Jonathan in confusion but went with it anyway. He disappeared back into their bedroom, and reappeared moments later with a beat-up radio he had. He turned it on and tuned it to their local station before turning back to Nancy. Soft music filled the air around her and she grinned. She placed her tea down and joined Jonathan in the middle of their kitchen.  


“If you wanted to dance with me, you should’ve just asked.” Nancy told him slyly.  


“Well I thought this would be more romantic.” He defended. He replaced his arms around Nancy’s waist, and she circled her arms around his neck. The pair swayed softly to the music, foreheads touching, content smiles on their faces.  


_Someday… when I’m awfully low,_  
_And the world is cold,_  
_I will feel a glow, just thinking of you,_  
_And the way you look tonight…_  


“Who sings this?” Nancy asked, breaking the tender silence.  


“I’m not sure, I think its Tony Bennett, but I could be wrong.” Jonathan answered.  


“God, my grandmother is obsessed with Tony Bennett.” Nancy said.  


Jonathan laughed softly, “So is your mother.”  


“You’re right.”  


He chuckled again and they fell back into comfortable silence, dancing with the music.  


_Lovely, never, never change,_  
_Keep that breathless charm,_  
_Won’t you please arrange it? ‘Cause I love you,_  
_Just the way you look, tonight._  


Nancy rested her head on Jonathan’s chest, feeling drowsiness take over her senses for the first time since she’d been awake from her nightmare. Dancing was new, but the calming presence Jonathan offered wasn’t. Maybe tomorrow night it would be him that would wake up after suffering another nightmare, and Nancy would be there with him, either to dance or make tea or just to be there. She would have him and he would have her, and that wasn’t ever going to change.  


Maybe sometimes they fought over stupid things, like Nancy wouldn’t pick up her clothes from their bedroom floor, or she kept tripping over Jonathan’s shoes, or one night in particular Nancy was angry at Jonathan because he hadn’t gone to get groceries like he’d promised he would. But in the end, they would make up and laugh about whatever they had been fighting over, and then they would go eat or lay on the couch and snack on ramen and old potato chips.  


“I love you.” Nancy whispered sleepily.  


“I love you too.”  


And that was all Nancy wanted to hear.  


_Lovely, don’t you ever change_  
_Keep that breathless charm,_  
_Won’t you please arrange it?_  
_Cause I love you,  
_Just the way you look, tonight…__


End file.
